US Constitution Amendments 15-20 and the Electoral College

Amendments 15-20

Amendment 15:

Provided Black Men the right to vote

Amendment 16:

Income tax law. This law moved away from fair taxing: based upon each person paying a part of the taxes due to their location verses their income. NOW, people would have to pay based on their income…those making more, pay more.

Amendment 17:

Senate elections. Prior to this amendment, the states would elect their senators. This amendment now gave individuals the ability to vote. When this was taken away from the state and given to the people, it actually harmed the state sovereignty and created a more centralized government…which is what the Anti-Federalists feared would happen

Amendment 18:

Prohibition – took away the ability to make and sell alcohol, not the right to possess or drink alcohol

Amendment 19:

Right to vote regardless of sex. Up until this Amendment, women could not vote…now, women have the right to vote

Amendment 20:

Terms of the President and Vice President would end on January 20th at NOON. This would shorten the lame duck session from Dec-March to Dec – Jan 20th.

Electoral College

The original purpose of the electoral college was to help the average person – who is working to take care of their family. The founding Fathers were concerned that the average person would not have enough knowledge necessary to vote for the best person to be the President of the United States.

The Electoral College’s purpose is also to help protect smaller states from larger/wealthier states.

That means that when the average person votes, they actually vote for an electorate,whom they are requesting to vote on their behalf for the best person for the President.

This means that Good Men (voters) would choose better men (Electors), who would then choose the best man –> President.

This was used to express the will of the people.

This was eluded to in Federalist 68 by Alexander Hamilton:

It was desirable that the sense of the people should operate in the choice of the person to whom so important a trust was to be confided. This end will be answered by committing the right of making it, not to any pre-established body, but to men chosen by the people for the special purpose, and at the particular conjuncture.

The idea was to ensure that Federalism was maintained. If Congress was allowed to select the leader of the country, the power would remain at the top of the ranks without any input from the people.

The Electoral College was also an opportunity to protect the smaller states from the larger (more wealthy) states.

How Does the Electoral College work?

Groups of Electors are selected in each state and the rules in each state differ, based on the state and their election laws.

Within each state, the state election law allows for the various parties to select their electors, based on the party who wins the popular vote, then those electors are chosen to go and vote for their party nominee.

The individual voters are identified based on the party rules.

After all of the votes are counted in the general election, the candidate with the majority of the votes is considered the winner of the electoral votes. So, the individual voters are actually voting for the electors, not the actual President…

According to the Constitution, all electors will meet in their individual states on the same day across the US to cast their votes. That day is set at the first Monday after the second Wednesday in November. There is no law that requires the elector to vote according to the desire of the people they are voting for. However, there are some penalties enforced, should an elector vote against the people in their area.

After the electoral votes are cast, the results are sent to Congress and the National Archivist.

Early in January, Congress meets in a join session and the ballots are read and counted, as well as revealed to congress. If there is a tie, the House of Representatives will be responsible for choosing the President, because they are the ‘closest to the people.’

The Senate will have the responsible for selecting the VP, should there be a tie for VP.

How does the State identify the Number of Electors?

The Constitution provides that the number of electors be equal to the number of Congressional districts you have in your state, plus two for your senators.

The Electoral College helps ensure that the Presidential candidates run election campaigns in every state. In order to win, a candidate must have 270 electoral votes.

What have you learned about our founding documents?

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